As Chinese-operated businesses increase in rural Jamaica, merchants in St Mary assert that their infiltration isn’t a calculated decision.

The entrepreneurs told the Jamaica Observer that nothing but opportunity and availability has caused them to ‘set up shop’ throughout the parish.

“When me just come out here, me only can find this space,” Leon Yang, whose family operates the AAA Supermarket and Wholesale in Highgate said. “So there’s no why, because when you a look business, you nuh have so much place you can go; you just know which part di people going sell a business place an me just come here. Me nuh have nuh much choice.”

In fact, Yang does not believe that his business is in the most ideal community. Though he admits there is profit, the young merchant said the one-year-old business would be better in another community, citing the number of competitors and the size of the market as reasons.

“Highgate too small,” he stated, “an’ a nuff supermarket deh here. You see one here so, one down dere so, nuff competition an di place likkle.”

Admittedly, when the Sunday Observer visited the community there were not many customers in the establishment.

When asked what led him to operate a supermarket despite their prevalence, Yang said: “Because dere was supermarket here before. I get dem shelf, I ketch dem counter. So I can put less money in di business. If me a change to restaurant or haberdashery, me a put nuff money pan it, nuff tings fi change an’ do. So easier ketch back di business; shelf deh ya already, fridge deh ya already an’ me nuh have no money fi fix di place an’ buy other tings fi fix di business.

In Port Maria, Chinese merchants also cited availability for their location.

For Tiffani Liao, who started the TC Smart Shop in the parish capital, the store’s location was because of its closeness to home.

“It’s not what attracted me here really, but it’s a matter of where I can find a business place, where is available and is closer to Ocho (Rios), where my family is from,” she said, adding that she started her business out of a need to be independent.

“One life to live, you have to try out everything. I was a registered nurse and then I don’t want to work for people all the time and I need to venture out and see what’s really out there in this world. With this it’s just like the sky is the limit; you just have to shoot for the star.”

When asked how business was, Liao said: “Actually it has improved over the years. I mean, if you start a business you know the first two years is going to be really hard. It’s really hard and then eventually once you get to know the people of the community, that’s when they start to know you, gain respect, and then everybody start supporting you and then it’s just better.”

Matthew Liao, who operates the L&Y Supermarket and Wholesale in the capital, could not attribute a reason behind choosing Port Maria.

“Me nuh really have no why. Just see a opportunity an take di chance, there’s a reason why,” the entrepreneur said.

Added Liao: “We see seh back inna di days Port Maria never have much shops an’ stuff so you never have much competition in the place, but now you see more shops coming up so you have more competitors.”

He noted that his business has been in the community for over a decade — one of the first Chinese-operated businesses. In light of the growth, Liao told the

Sunday Observer that his business has suffered.

“I can say it (business) isn’t as good as before, but we still a try ’cause, you know, there is only one market but more competitors, so we sales and profit will share up wid di other places,” he said of his busy business place.

Stiff competition

Like the Chinese, local business persons lamented the competitiveness of the market, but also noted the impact Chinese businesses had on theirs.

“More headache,” was all Babu, who operates Fashion Mall, said when asked of the impact.

Noting that the businesses hardly ever sell the same products, Babu who’s been selling in Port Maria for over 20 years, said there is the fact that the Chinese usually sell items cheaper which is impactful.

“We just have to sell items at a cheap price because their things normally cheaper and the quality is cheaper too, and now these customers don’t go for the quality, they go for the cheapness,” said Babu.

“Like I’m selling one pants for $3,000 and maybe they’re selling pants too, but they are not the same quality and they don’t sell it for $3,000, but we have brand and the brand is more costly,” he further explained.

Judith Silvera, who has operated the Fashion Net Variety Store for the past six years, also noted this as an issue.

“The Chinese them will carry some things in and they look similar to what you have, but the quality is not there. Chinese people don’t carry quality enuh, because if you have a Chinese sneakers and you put it against a real sneakers, you know that the real one is going to stand out, but the cost for the real one might be two times the amount for the Chinese one, so the people them will gravitate to the Chinese one because it is cheaper and not really good and that is the impact, because if they didn’t have that cheap one to show them, then you would have gotten the sale enuh because you have the real thing, so that is the likkle ting di Chinese have over we.”

But the entrepreneurs welcomed the Chinese merchants.

“I still have my market. They don’t hinder sales because I try not to sell the things that they sell. I go for quality and durability and not really cheaper stuff,” Silvera said.

Policing and security

Despite merchants’ admission of competition, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Dwight Powell, who commands police operations in the parish, said that he is “happy” for the increase in commerce as a result of the Chinese businesses.

“I came here many years ago in the early 90s and when I came here it was only two places in Port Maria that was Chinese-operated: that’s the Stephen Chung Supermarket and Kong’s, which was at the time a haberdashery. So it was a supermarket and haberdashery, but if you walk out in the town there now, almost all the business places out in the town are Chinese-operated and it is growing at an exponential rate, because most of the commercial business or the business places you’re seeing built up there are Chinese-operated; not only in Port Maria, but also in Oracabessa, Stewart Town and you may get up to Annotto Bay — these are all places that are dominated by Chinese business,” stated Powell.

“As the commanding officer for here, I don’t have any problem with it because even though it might not be a wide-scale basis, it does offer an opportunity for the local people to be gainfully employed; maybe not substantial but at least some people will get an opportunity to get a job,” he added.

The lawman however highlighted one concern: the potential for crime that accompanies commercial spaces. He noted that like other businesses, the Chinese are a target for break-ins and other criminal offences.

“There is no big issue in St Mary as it relates to these businesses. What we may have is a few shoplifting, maybe a few reports of break-ins of establishments. But these are not anything beyond our capabilities to deal with in St Mary because these are regular crime or criminal activity, and just like how we treat the local situation, we treat the Chinese situation. So nobody is given any preferential treatment because of their nationality or anything like that,” he told the

Sunday Observer.

Powell highlighted the mechanisms employed by the St Mary police to curtail these offences in Port Maria.

“From the policing perspective it is my job to keep them safe too, so I ensure that we have a system in place to keep them safe. So what we have done in recent times is to put in what we have called a commerce unit, which is basically a few police officers who take care of all the commercial activities in the township,” he explained.

“Their job basically is to operate like a beat and foot patrol, and pretty much what they do is to visit these establishments and what we have done is to ask these persons to put in what we call visiting log for the police. So the police would go in, check the establishments, speak with the maybe the local security guards that they have there, write a visit in the visit log to say that the police pass through and that everything was normal at the time of the visit.”

Added DSP Powell: “In the night-time it is a different matter. We still have a beat patrol that consists of the local police of Port Maria or wherever the station is concerned, and patrols would make checks on the building basically to keep watch to ensure that the businesses are safe from break-in offences.”

When asked whether the police conducts regular checks to ensure legitimate operations, the lawman said “there is a system in place for regular checks.”

He further explained: “Normally, for all foreign nationals who work in Jamaica, the immigration department and the Citizens Services Department from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ensure that these persons that are in Jamaica working are legitimate, they would have to visit the immigration office in the parish. Unfortunately we don’t have an immigration office in St Mary, so there is an immigration office out in St Ann so all persons from St Mary would go over to St Ann or possibly Kingston, where the citizen agency in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would have them go to the immigration department to have their status or work permits sorted out.”

Though language is sometimes a barrier, Powell said the police make an effort to communicate with the businessmen. He said that though all of them are unable to communicate in English, “there is always a representative from each entity that communicates on their behalf and acts as an interface between them and the police.

No Chamber of Commerce involvement

According to Fredrick Young, President of the St Mary Chamber of Commerce, there are close to 30 Chinese-operated establishments in the parish.

“From my count, Port Maria has about 10, Highgate has eight, Annotto Bay four, Oracabessa three, Stewart Town two and Tower Isle two. There is none in Richmond and none in Galye ,” he outlined, although the original Chinese who were born and raised in Jamaica — the Kongs — still have business in Richmond.

Young said that though the Chinese businessmen are not members of the organisation, their indirect contribution to the community is tremendous.

“Across the communities I looked at if its about 30 plus such stores in St Mary then they would have employed probably over 100 persons in the local community,” he reasoned, “also these are persons who took over businesses that were in that location. I think in a few cases that they construct an actual building. They would have created employment, they would have paid their taxes. I hope, they use the banks and security services.

“With 30 or more of such businesses, I don’t think it will impact the community in terms of taking away our businesses. What I know they do is there is a bond between them that apparently it is working, where they buy goods in bulk which provides an economy of scale that benefit customers,” Young told the

Sunday Observer.

In addition to getting them to join the organisation, Young stated that during his tenure he hopes to encourage them to give back to the community.

“There is little and no involvement in the community in terms of through sponsorship of sports and such the like. I have known of staff who work with them in the security area and, from what they are saying, on a certain day they will have staff function and give them tokens and make them feel like a family, but I am not feeling them in the community,” said Young.

“I think we should probably do more to encourage them to come on board. My role is to reach them through a third party who has access to them. So maybe we can reach them through her. I would love for them to be more involved in the community since they live here,” he continued.

The parish of St Mary was once listed among the poorest parishes in Jamaica, but has seen improvements after an increase in investments.

Young believes that Chinese merchants “have a part to play in the economy of the parish”.